scholarly journals WHAT IS ENGINEERING SCIENCE? DEFINING A DISCIPLINE THROUGH A CROSS-INSTITUTIONAL COMPARISON AND A MULTI-INSTITUTIONAL WORKSHOP

Author(s):  
Lisa Romkey ◽  
Nikita Dawe ◽  
Rubaina Khan

The Division of Engineering Science at the University of Toronto offers a complex, multidisciplinary undergraduate program, commonly known as "EngSci”. We are in the first of a multi-year project titled ROLE (Realigning Outcomes with Learning Experiences), designed to proactively realign curriculum, pedagogy, students, and brand with our program goals. The first step in this process is to understand the state of Engineering Science as an academic discipline more broadly, and to better understand its role in the broader engineering and science landscape.  To better understand the discipline, we have used the academic plan model to compare eight engineering science programs from around the globe. The academic plan model supports the identification of internal and external factors that shape academic programs and frames the academic plan itself as seven related components that make up curriculum. Utilizing public-facing documentation such as websites and grey literature, we compared the IESC (International Engineering Science Consortium) programs and found differences in fundamental curriculum content, sub-disciplinary foci, organizational structure, and sources of external influence.  Concurrently, we conducted a workshop with members from the IESC to facilitate dialogue on the state of the discipline. This workshop resulted in a number of interesting artifacts, documenting the perspective of the participants. Some key themes that emerged included a strong focus on fundamentals and first principles; a focus on non-traditional and rapidly developing sub-disciplines, using the notion that Engineering Science can act as an “incubator” for new disciplines; and a diversity of views on the relationship between science and engineering within Engineering Science programs.  Finally, the paper paves a way forward for the next phase of the work, which involves interviewing program faculty and alumni to further understand perceptions of the discipline and the positioning of the discipline in the broader science and engineering landscape. 

Author(s):  
Ken Tallman

The presentation will discuss a third-year engineering elective course, Engineering and Science inthe Arts, offered by the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto. The presentation will detail the unique course deliverables, which require the engineering students to, first, create original works of art, and, secondly, to explain how these works connect to engineering and/or science. A key objective in the course was that the students eradicate the boundaries separating engineers and artists, and this presentation will consider the course’s success in this regard.


Author(s):  
Mark Kuhlberg

Judging from the contrasting state of affairs at the forestry schools at the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia, it is difficult to believe the situation that prevailed roughly eight decades ago. Today, UBC’s program is thriving whereas the forestry school at the University of Toronto is but a shadow of its former self. Exactly the opposite was true in the early twentieth century. Ironically, forestry education at UBC owes its existence to the profound commitment that Herbert Read Christie, a graduate of Toronto’s Faculty, showed to it in the years after the First World War. This article explores Christie’s role in building the UBC forestry school, and sheds light on the development of forestry as an academic discipline in Canada. -- En regard de l’évolution académique des écoles de foresterie de l’Université de Toronto et de l’Université de Colombie Britannique (UBC), il est difficile d’imaginer la situation qui existait il y a environ quatre-vingts ans. Alors que de nos jours, le programme de UBC s’avère florissant, les études en foresterie de l’Université de Toronto font piètre figure en comparaison de ce qu’elles étaient au début du XXe siècle où l’inverse prévalait. Il est ironique de souligner que le programme de foresterie développé à UBC, peu après la fin de la Première Guerre mondiale, est l’oeuvre de Herbert Read Christie, un diplômé de l’Université de Toronto en ce domaine. Cet article explore le rôle marquant joué par Christie dans l’implantation de cette école et de l’essor académique de cette discipline au Canada.


Author(s):  
Patricia Kristine Sheridan ◽  
Aidan Malone ◽  
Doug Reeve ◽  
Greg Evans

This paper outlines the design of a new instructor interface that has been added to the on-line Team-effectiveness Learning System (TELS) at the University of Toronto. TELS is a tool that supports team-based project courses by facilitating the development of individual team-effectiveness competencies in students within their teams. Instructors saw the system as beneficial for student growth, but they also saw opportunities for them to get a better understanding of the state of their student teams. As a result, TELS has now developed an instructor interface to let instructors “see” into their teams. The instructor interface has been adopted by four courses since its development


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-340
Author(s):  
Markian Dobczansky ◽  
Simone Attilio Bellezza

AbstractThis article introduces a special issue on Ukrainian statehood. Based on the conference “A Century of Ukrainian Statehoods: 1917 and Beyond” at the University of Toronto, the special issue examines the relationship between the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917–1920 and the Soviet Ukrainian state over the long term. The authors survey the history of the Ukrainian SSR and propose two points of emphasis: the need to study the promises of “national” and “social” liberation in tandem and the persistent presence of an “internal other” in Soviet Ukrainian history.


Author(s):  
Susan McCahan ◽  
Grant Allen ◽  
Lisa Romkey

This paper will describe the process that the University of Toronto is following in response to the Graduate Attributes recently introduced by CEAB. The Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto is using small teams to develop concise lists of global objectives and indicators for each attribute. This paper discusses the work done to date, including the indicators we have developed for the attributes. We will discuss the challenges we have encountered, and how we are meeting those challenges; and the positive collaborations and discussions that have resulted.


CJEM ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (S1) ◽  
pp. S32
Author(s):  
C. Hunchak ◽  
L. Puchalski Ritchie ◽  
M. Salmon ◽  
J. Maskalyk ◽  
M. Landes

Introduction/Innovation Concept: Demand for training in global health emergency medicine (EM) practice and education across Canada is high and increasing. For faculty with advanced global health EM training, EM departments have not traditionally recognized global health as an academic niche warranting support. To address these unmet needs, expert faculty at the University of Toronto (UT) established the Global Health Emergency Medicine (GHEM) organization to provide both quality training opportunities for residents and an academic home for faculty in the field of global health EM. Methods: Six faculty with training and experience in global health EM founded GHEM in 2010 at a UT teaching hospital, supported by the leadership of the ED chief and head of the Divisions of EM. This initial critical mass of faculty formed a governing body, seed funding was granted from the affiliated hospital practice plan and a five-year strategic academic plan was developed. Curriculum, Tool, or Material: GHEM has flourished at UT with growing membership and increasing academic outputs. Five governing members and 9 general faculty members currently run 18 projects engaging over 60 faculty and residents. Formal partnerships have been developed with institutions in Ethiopia, Congo and Malawi, supported by five granting agencies. Fifteen publications have been authored to date with multiple additional manuscripts currently in review. Nineteen FRCP and CCFP-EM residents have been mentored in global health clinical practice, research and education. Finally, GHEM’s activities have become a leading recruitment tool for both EM postgraduate training programs and the EM department. Conclusion: GHEM is the first academic EM organization in Canada to meet the ever-growing demand for quality global health EM training and to harness and support existing expertise among faculty. The productivity from this collaborative framework has established global health EM at UT as a relevant and sustainable academic career. GHEM serves as a model for other faculty and institutions looking to move global health EM practice from the realm of ‘hobby’ to recognized academic endeavor, with proven academic benefits conferring to faculty, trainees and the institution.


Author(s):  
Benjamin Walsh ◽  
Michelle Spence

Incoming first-year engineering students at the University of Toronto often have difficulty navigating the library and its resources. Orientation activities at the Engineering & Computer Science Library are designed to introduce students to the library in an informal and entertaining way. In 2017, as a result of dropping interest in previous years' orientation activities, librarians at the Engineering & Computer Science Library collaborated with instructors and staff in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering to develop an orientation activity grounded in curriculum and based on the popular escape room game. Core library services and engineering resources were used to build a challenging program that introduced students to basic, but essential, research skills. Voluntary student participation in the game exceeded previous years' participation and all expectations of the game designers.


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